Here’s the 2nd installment of Tarek’s journey of faith. Click here to read part 1.
I will not soon forget the level of eagerness with which Tarek received his new Bible from my husband Kevin.
Tarek was dropping Kevin and the children off in one location and then would continue on to drop me off nearby. As my husband gave him the Bible, Tarek thanked Kevin profusely.
As we drove off to my destination, Tarek touched the Holy Book on his dashboard. With tears close to falling, Tarek told me, “This is so good. This book. I want it so much. I want to tell Jesus that I love Him. Kevin is a good man, you know.”
I nodded. “I’m glad you have that Book now.”
“Yes, this is so good. This is so good. Kevin is my brother; you are my sister. This is God’s plan that I had to leave Syria to come here. It’s God’s plan that you are here. And now I have this Book. I want to know. I need to know!”
That first night with his new Bible, Tarek devoured a hundred pages of the Gospels.
“Pray for me, my sister,” Tarek said one day while I was in the back seat with the kids. Kevin was riding in front, but sometimes, Tarek liked to bring me into their frequent spiritual conversations. “Pray for me that I will follow Jesus. I want to tell Jesus that I love him,” he said. “But…”
“So why don’t you decide to follow Jesus?” I asked him. Now Kevin’s Spirit-led boldness was rubbing off on me!
Tarek explained that he had grown up with Islam—his family is Muslim and always has been. This decision to follow Jesus Christ posed many challenges.
And so Kevin, the kids, and I continued in prayer. Prayer was our best tool as we watched the battle over Tarek’s soul.
One night, Tarek called Kevin on the phone. Listening to Kevin’s side of the conversation, I could tell instantly that he had called to discuss spiritual things. Apparently, as Tarek was listening to the Qur’an being read on the radio that evening, he had heard a verse that raised questions about Jesus inside him.
I always felt nervous when Tarek brought up things from the Qur’an, fearing that he would use it to argue for Islam and against Jesus Christ. Yet my fears were always unfounded.
“Kevin, there’s a verse in the Qur’an,” he began on the phone. “It says that a man who chooses not to follow Jesus is actually condemned for such a decision!”
Kevin couldn’t argue with that.
Check out part 3 of Tarek’s journey of discovering Jesus.
Original article: FrontiersUSA.org/blog/article/a-journey-of-faith-2-pray
**Names and places have been changed for security.**